leader

A2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈli.dɚ/ UK /ˈliː.də(ɹ)/ See IPA manual

Freq #1416

Meanings

1

noun
A person who leads, guides, or is in charge of a group or country.

World leaders met to discuss climate change.
2

noun
A person or thing that is the best or most successful in a particular field.

The company is a leader in clean energy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who leads, guides,... chief head

Opposites

follower

Word family

Forms leaders

Derived forms arch-leaderarchleaderbandleaderbearleadercheerleaderchoirleadercoleadere-leaderfairleaderfollow-the-leaderforeleadergangleader

Related forms baronbaronessconductor duchess duke emperor empress follower general governor king mayor

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

nationalist leader
a person who leads a movement promoting national identity or independence

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English leder, ledere, from Old English lǣdere (“leader”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijārī (“leader”), equivalent to lead + -er. Cognate with Scots ledar, leidar (“leader”), West Frisian lieder (“leader”), Dutch leider (“leader”), German Leiter (“leader, conductor, manager”), Danish leder (“leader, manager”), Swedish ledare (“leader, conductor, director”), Icelandic leiðari (“leader, conductor”).

leder Middle English lǣdere Old English *laidijārī Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# leader

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈli.dɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈliː.də(ɹ)/
**Frequency rank:** 1416

## Meanings
1. A person who leads, guides, or is in charge of a group or country.
2. A person or thing that is the best or most successful in a particular field.

## Examples
- World leaders met to discuss climate change.
- The company is a leader in clean energy.

## Antonyms
- follower

## Derived Forms
- arch-leader
- archleader
- bandleader
- bearleader
- cheerleader
- choirleader
- coleader
- e-leader
- fairleader
- follow-the-leader
- foreleader
- gangleader

## Related Forms
- baron
- baroness
- conductor
- duchess
- duke
- emperor
- empress
- follower
- general
- governor
- king
- mayor

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: leder
- Root: lǣdere
- Root: *laidijārī

## Etymology
From Middle English leder, ledere, from Old English lǣdere (“leader”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijārī (“leader”), equivalent to lead + -er. Cognate with Scots ledar, leidar (“leader”), West Frisian lieder (“leader”), Dutch leider (“leader”), German Leiter (“leader, conductor, manager”), Danish leder (“leader, manager”), Swedish ledare (“leader, conductor, director”), Icelandic leiðari (“leader, conductor”).

## AI Etymology
Leader comes from Middle English leder, ledere, from Old English lǣdere (“leader”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijārī (“leader”), equivalent to lead + -er. Cognate with Scots ledar, leidar (“leader”), West Frisian lieder (“leader”), Dutch leider (“leader”), German Leiter (“leader, conductor, manager”), Danish leder (“leader, manager”), Swedish ledare (“leader, conductor, director”), Icelandic leiðari (“leader, conductor”). The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix.

## Topics
- People & Society

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